


Reaper's Code

by WrestleCrazyGamer



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Gen, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:22:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29954049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrestleCrazyGamer/pseuds/WrestleCrazyGamer
Summary: Lycan is a Reaper, a specially bred killing machine whose job is to hunt down and kill Sins. Sins are mysterious monsters who seem to be hellbent on devouring human flesh. Lycan's job gets a whole lot harder when all of a sudden he finds himself caring for a daughter that he didn't even know existed until today. Through her, he begins to see what he has become in a world where the people have grown complacent with their only line of defense against Sins.
Kudos: 1





	Reaper's Code

_ In this world, we live with the fact that humanity is under constant threat from monsters called Sin. The old world collapsed due to their sudden appearance during a war. Nations were no more, and all seemed lost. That was when scientist Adam P. Brahnum proposed the “Reaper Project”, artificially augmenting newborn DNA with that of a Sin. The initial infants born showed slight signs of increased physical ability. The second batch were given a stronger dose of DNA, resulting in the first generation of Reapers. Effectively mutant super soldiers who look 98.5% human, they became humanity’s guiding light. With the power of Reapers, mankind established a foothold in the ruined world where Sins rule. Each Reaper was given a specially designated codename and number. Reapers can be identified by their uniforms and signature weapon, the saw sword. Saw swords bear the appearance of oversized serrated hacksaws bearing extremely keen blades, perfect for ripping sins apart. _

>Sunday, 9:45AM - Thunderstorms

It stormed hard as a lion-type sin yelped its last in the valley of a rock formation. Standing over it was a pale young man with short neon green hair and glowing orange eyes. He wore black boots meant for combat and travel, baggy dark brown pants with suspenders, a blood red t-shirt, and a thick dark brown high-collar work jacket. A metal plate was in the left side of the collar bearing “ _ Lycan #4472913 _ ” on it. Ripping his saw sword out of the Sin, he huffed dismissively with cold eyes as he flung the greenish blue blood of his prey off. He began to leave the area when a black armored vehicle pulled into the valley. A man in a black suit and sunshades then got out of the passenger side. He had a vanilla envelope with papers in it that he opened while shielding it from the rain.

“Reaper ‘Lycan’? Designation 4472913?” the man spoke up, looking at the paper.

“Present.” he replied.

“Do you know a ‘Caroline Millers’?” the man asked.

“An old acquaintance. She told me that she couldn’t stomach being with a Reaper. I haven’t seen her since. She changed her number on me so I couldn’t keep in contact.” Lycan answered.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you after you’ve just finished a job, but she passed away recently. Well, I say passed away, but the truth is that she was murdered. She left a frantic last will and testament, like she knew someone was coming for her.” the man explained.

“She had a lot of enemies, and a bad habit of pissing people off without thinking.” Lycan told him.

“Her will says that her daughter is to be left in your care. It said that she’s yours, and included the hospital documentation that proves it.” the man explained, nodding to the driver.

“If I was a father why didn’t she say something? I didn’t even know she was pregnant.” Lycan asked as an armored soldier left the driver’s side to open the passenger door.

“Reaper Anti-Sentimentalism, Lycan. There are people who ostracize you even though we would be hosed without you. She may have wanted to spare your daughter the fate of people knowing her father is a Reaper. My guess is some of the more extreme haters found out about her relation to you. She didn’t trust the police, so she made sure your child would be safe.” the man replied as the soldier helped a small girl out of the vehicle.

She had pure white hair and glowing orange eyes like his. She wore leather shoes and a simple black sundress. Swishing behind her was a bushy white wolf tail. Lycan looked over his shoulder and thought back to when he had a tail, prior to severing it so that it couldn’t be exploited by sins. Her hair color was natural as she had Reaper DNA in her. She would likely reach prepubescence before it would gain a color. Lycan himself didn’t have an actual hair color until he was eighteen. The suit then knelt down by her.

“Judy, this man is your father. I know he looks scary, but trust me, he’s not so bad.” the suit told her as he handed the soldier the folder to place in a black backpack before putting it on her back.

“I didn’t agree to anything.” Lycan told him, waving his hand.

“You don’t get a choice in the matter, Lycan. Reaper’s Code #4: ‘To Bring Life Upon This Earth Demands Kinship, Thus Shall A Reaper Be Bound’. Unless you plan to refuse hospital documentation stating she is your daughter, you are duty bound to raise her.” the suit retorted.

The suit and soldier then left the two there. Judy very slowly walked over to him and looked up with a somewhat mopy look. Looking at Judy, she was quite thin for a girl her age. Lycan looked himself over then and saw he was covered in Sin blood. Without a word, he turned and began walking. He could hear the pitter patter of her feet trying to keep up on the wet ground.

Around the bend in the canyon was a jet black motorcycle. It was very large bearing a sort of capital T shape, bearing heavy armor plating with four total wheels held close together to appear as one wheel in each part. This vehicle is a Reaper’s go-to vehicle, the Bloodhound R-500. He opened a hidden compartment in the left side’s armor revealing spare clothes, pulled out a fresh jacket, and threw his dirty one inside before closing the compartment. He went to put it on, but then noticed Judy was shaking a little. Lycan turned on his bike and a digital display showed the temperature. He was so used to the outdoors he hadn’t even noticed how cold it was.

He put his coat around her, making her look a bit surprised, and then lifted her up to find she was very light. He then got on the bike sitting her in front of him, put his saw sword into a special compartment for it, and began to drive. Normally he rides roughly 80mph, getting point a to point b as quick as possible. With a kid on board though, he slowed it down to 50, especially since he didn’t have any helmets for her to wear. His jacket was at least doing a good job keeping Judy warm. He didn’t want to touch her with his bloody shirt, so there was a bonus there.

The nearest city was the Imperial City of Moons. Moons is known for being one of the only lateral cities left in the world, boasting five total city levels. The ground level is where all of the quote unquote “poor” people live. It also happens to be the level with the cheapest prices on literally anything. You can find junk shops, basic blacksmitheries, apothecaries, electronic stores, antique shops, and bazaars. Their first stop was a strange-looking black phone booth. It almost looked to be somewhat warped by the air around it. Lycan opened the door and entered without fear, picking up the phone.

“Designation code, please.” a woman’s voice asked.

“D.C. 4472913.” he replied.

He then had a dial tone for a moment before it clicked again.

“Lycan. Reporting in on that Sin?” another woman’s voice spoke.

“Yeah. It’s dead. So are its kin.” he replied.

“You always go the extra mile. That’s one less nasty out near city limits to worry about. We’ll wire the payment immediately.”

“Remember how I said I didn’t need the full amount? I’m going to need it after all.” he told her.

“Change of heart?” she asked.

“I have another mouth to feed now.” he answered.

“Oh riiiiiight, we got a call about that last night. Yeah we’ll be sure you get the full amount.” she told him.

“Thanks.” he spoke before hanging up.

He then got back on the bike and began to drive along until they arrived at a laundromat. Once inside he tossed his dirty coat in a washer and then took off his shirt to toss it in and begin washing them. Judy couldn’t help staring at the enormous amount of scars on his body. Some came from deep wounds, giving his flesh a ribbed appearance in some places on top of the discoloration of the scar tissue. Tattooed into his left bicep was his designation number.

“You… have it tattooed…?” Judy asked nervously.

“All Reapers without exception have their designation tattooed onto them from a young age. The most common places to see them are the bicep and thigh. Some get it on their back, others their chest or abdomen, and there are also those who get them tattooed in very unpleasant places.” he replied.

There was a very awkward silence as they waited on his shirt and jacket in the wash. The silence only kept up as he put them in the drier. It was finally disturbed by the doors opening and someone walking in.

“I thought they were kidding. It’s for real, you have a kid?” a voice spoke.

Lycan grumbled to himself, looking over to the door. Standing there was a dark skinned woman bearing a slim figure with lower back length fire red hair. She was dressed in black boots just like Lycan’s, a black bodysuit with dark brown pants like his worn overtop with three belts on, black gloves matching his, and the same jacket he wears. The only difference between his jacket and hers was that the metal plate in the collar read a different name and designation code. Clutched under her left arm was a small basket with more of the same clothes in it, stained in Sin blood.

“What do you want, Vamp?” he asked impatiently.

“Nothing, I’m just here to wash my clothes, the same as you. I finished a hunt myself not long ago and it was a  _ mess _ . Had to completely change clothes after. I heard through the grapevine that you had a daughter, but knowing you that had to be impossible. Plus there’s only a 1.5% chance for us to even get pregnant or make someone pregnant. That statistic made  _ me _ super skeptical at least. This has to be her right? She’s so cute. That tail... I can see the resemblance.” Vamp smiled, looking Judy over.

“Every time we talk… you run your damn mouth...” he groaned, pinching the bridge between his eyes.

“Oh don’t be like that, Lycan. We hardly see each other these days, and we used to talk all the time growing up. You’ve been a super recluse, camping out under the stars every night. I heard you’ve been taking only half the pot for jobs too, pretty much starving yourself. That isn’t healthy you know. You gotta eat to keep up your strength for when big jobs come around.” Vamp huffed.

“It’s none of your business, Vamp…” he grumbled.

“So what’s your name? I’m Reaper #62693418 ‘Vampire’, but you can just call me Vamp. I’ve known your daddy since we were fetuses in the artificial womb, born in the same batch of Reapers. Did you know that you’re called a ‘Lucky 1.5 Baby’ in the Reaper community? It’s because you only had a 1.5% chance of being conceived by your mommy. That makes you extra special.” Vamp introduced herself to Judy, kneeling down completely ignoring Lycan now.

“Judy…” she nervously replied.

“Nice to meet you Judy. Where’s your mommy? Oh, is it taking your daughter to work day?” Vamp giggled.

“My mom is dead…” Judy replied, starting to sniffle.

“This is why you shouldn’t run your mouth, Vamp…” Lycan sighed heavily.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know… uh… um…” Vamp panicked, trying to calm Judy down.

“Judy. Cry now if you want. The release of emotions will set your heart free. Bottling them inside is bad for you.” Lycan told her, lifting her.

“M-Mom said… said a Reaper’s kid doesn’t cry…” she hiccuped, trying not to cry.

“Caroline had a particular view of how Reapers should behave. She didn’t understand that while we are not truly human, we have feelings and desires just as humans do. Sins, even though we hunt them, are not any different. I’m telling you now, if you wish to cry, then cry. You’ll feel at least a bit better having let it out.” he told her.

At his words, Judy pressed her face against his chest and quietly began to sob. She seemed to keep crying all the way until his laundry was done. When he set her down to put his shirt and jacket on, she looked to have calmed down at least a little despite her eyes being red. She was clenching her dress, but was otherwise calm.

“Wow. You might be cut out to be a parent after all.” Vamp observed, putting her clothes in the drier.

“I only told her what Sister Jillian once told us as children.” he retorted.

“What’s next for you? Another job? Some R&R?” Vamp asked.

“Clothes.” he replied, walking to his bike prompting Judy to follow quickly, trying to wipe any remaining tears from her eyes.

He helped Judy back up onto the seat before taking off. After some driving he pulled into a strange elevator. A digital display with numbers on it then popped up. He tapped “3” making the elevator exit seal up with a blue energy barrier. The elevator then began to rise, making Judy uneasy. When they reached their destination, another barrier was before them. When it dropped it revealed they were on another level of the city entirely. Compared to the first level, this area looked like a marvel of survival.

Pulling out and beginning to drive, the townspeople were amazed to see a Reaper. Their trip took them to a store that looked to exclusively sell Reaper uniform clothing. It had flashing neon signs and moving displays of Reapers that Judy had never seen before. Lycan drew his weapon from the bike and then led Judy inside. The shop smelled of fruit and flowers, a very pleasant scent to be greeted by. She was confused as to why he had his weapon though. He rung the bell at the front desk and there was a loud crash from the back room. Judy could then faintly hear the sound of rolling wheels.

A pale woman with short brown hair then came barreling through the door on a computer chair. She was wearing sneakers, blue jeans, and a black tank top. Her arms were covered wrists to shoulders in intricate dragon tattoos. In her mouth was a thin chocolate stick about the length of a cigarette.

“Welcome to Reaper Boutique, what can I get you?” she addressed him.

“Where’s your kid department?” he replied.

“Kid department…? Listen, we don’t do dressup.” she sighed, and then he passive-aggressively put his weapon on the counter.

“Sharpen this and show me the damn kid section.” he demanded.

She then caught a good look at his collar plate and her eyes widened. She then took another glance at Judy and spotted her tail swaying now and then.

“Apologies for my rudeness. Kids section is this way.” she told him, lifting his weapon with some difficulty.

She led them into the back and to an entirely hidden section that had child-sized outfits. Judy was amazed by the amount of uniform types. While they looked she took his weapon off somewhere.

“Is… my dress not okay…?” Judy nervously asked Lycan.

“I’m not going to pay for babysitters. I don’t even have a home to have you babysat at. So that means you’re coming with me on hunts, and If you’re coming with me then you’re dressing for the occasion.” Lycan explained, examining the racks.

“Oh…” she nodded, looking a bit confused but understanding.

He then began holding outfits up to Judy to check their size. She was surprised at the variety in uniforms. The only real constant is that the jackets are the same no matter what, only differing in size. After checking for size he laid a few of the outfits on a table.

“Which do you want?” he asked her.

One was the same black bodysuit with pants that Vamp was wearing. The other was also a bodysuit, but without the pants, that looked to have some red armor padding along the limbs and torso. Another was an outright heavy suit of armor attached to a bodysuit that even had the boots built in. Neither of them looked like something regular kids would wear.

“Do I have to pick from these…?” she asked, pouting a little.

“Yes. They’re durable and comfortable. In the event a Sin targets you you’ll have at least some protection in case I can’t get to you immediately. The backs of all of them have thick armor to prevent attacks from behind.” Lycan replied.

Judy didn’t like any of them, but Lycan didn’t look to be in any mood for debate. She reluctantly chose the lightweight one. He then grabbed a jacket from the rack that wasn’t too big but wasn’t too small for her. Next came grabbing her some armored boots for her feet. Lycan then took her back to the front, clothes in tow. The woman returned moments later with his weapon. The blade looked brand new and the handle was touched up with fresh lacquer and brand new grip tape. She looked pleased with herself as she set it on the front desk with the clothes.

“I only asked for a sharpening.” Lycan told her.

“About that… the blade kind of…  _ broke _ . It snapped the moment I put it to the grindstone. It could tell how long you’ve been using it just by looking at the weapon. That’s about when I noticed you’d actually snapped the handle a long time ago too. The only thing keeping it together was the wrapping. So I went ahead and constructed an entirely new saw sword for you, freshly sharpened and ready to go at no charge.” she explained.

“The kid’s clothes?” he asked.

“They total 30 dollars, 50% off, thanks to the Reaper Parenthood Program that went into effect last year.” she replied.

After paying he had Judy get changed. She was reluctant, but obeyed. The outfit fit her perfectly, though she looked to be a bit uncomfortable, squirming now and then.

“Let’s go.” he ordered.

The two then mounted the bike again and returned down to the first level of the city. They then took several alleys to arrive at a big prison-like building with a large scythe at the top of the doors. He took Judy inside and she was startled by how small the room is compared to the outside. There was a small window on the far wall with prison-like bars in it with a slot in the bottom. Lycan approached it and a masked man greeted him on the other side.

“In need of another target already?” the man asked in a deep voice.

“I already killed the ones you gave me.” Lycan replied.

“Well. We don’t have any targets right now. We do, however, have an investigation.” the man told him.

“What’s the pay?” he asked.

“Nothing special, 150 up front and another 50 for completion.” the man replied.

“Good enough for me.” Lycan told him.

“Direct deposit as always?” the man asked, slipping a purple folder through the slot to him.

“Yeah.” he nodded, taking it to read the contents.

Inside the folder was a report of a pair of Reapers that seemed to go missing after taking on a simple Search & Rescue job. Another Reaper took care of the job, but the Reapers still had not reappeared to explain themselves. Their last known location was ten miles from the city in the plains. Lycan memorized the contents and then returned to the bike with Judy to take off again. The rain was finally letting up some as midday rolled around. 

The plains are to the left of the city, and one of the few places on the planet that still has green grass. Sins rarely appear in this part of the land, and any that do are typically small.

After hours of searching in the plains, Lycan spotted a campsite with a pair of familiar-looking bikes lying in wrecked heaps. He parked a bit from the site and got off.

“Stay here.” he ordered Judy, drawing his saw sword.

He approached the site and immediately didn’t like what he saw. Blood, and a lot of it. Strangely, no Sin blood or signs of wildlife. Checking the bikes, only one weapon compartment had its saw sword in it. Looking around more, the tent was torn to shreds but had nothing of note inside. The campfire had been smashed. Following the blood trail, he eventually stumbled upon something. A severed left arm that still had some shoulder on it. It had to belong to a Reaper, because it was clad in the sleeve of a bodysuit. He knelt down, lifted it, and began to sniff the stump. The blood was coagulated and had the smell of decay on it, and he did grimace smelling it, but he kept doing it. His eyes then began to glow yellow as his pupils slowly turned slit like a serpent’s.

“Female, 34, perfect health. She wasn’t running or struggling when this was cut off...” he mumbled to himself.

Following the scent with his nose, he soon found more blood spatters and slaughtered wild cows. Their insides had been eaten savagely. Not far from them, stabbed into the ground, was a bloody saw sword. The stains were as old as the arm by the looks of what the weather’s done to it. He knelt down by it and began to sniff it as well. Slowly his human ears began to recede and slowly seal as from the top of his head large wolf ears began to grow. When they were fully grown, he stopped sniffing.

“A fight occurred here. This is older than the arm, but only by a few minutes. Whoever was using it stopped and stabbed it here.” he noted.

He then continued to follow the scent and blood until he found a human corpse. They were half eaten and half mutilated. Scraps remained of their bloody clothes. Their lower jaw was devoid of skin to match how torn up their chest was. By their hand was a syringe with just a tiny bit of a pink fluid inside. He carefully lifted it and began to sniff, but rather than something else happening he instantly dropped it.

“Stimulant K…” he spoke, a worried look on his face.

He then began frantically looking around. After a few seconds he evidently spotted what he was looking for as he rushed to it and knelt down. He picked up the torn remains of a Reaper bodysuit with blood and a pink substance staining a bit of it.

“Beastialization. No corpse...” he spoke, looking about frantically.

Judy then screamed, grabbing his attention. He sprinted as fast as he could and as he rounded the corner to her, he swung with his full might slashing into something that yelped inhumanly. What backed away from the bike was once a female Reaper. Her body had grotesquely mutated. Her arms and legs were unnaturally long with bone piercing here and there to form thorns. Her fingernails had grown out and transformed into horrid spiraling claws. Her torso had visible muscular deformation causing her to have a hunched over back. Her spinal vertebrae had large bone thorns coming out from them. Her long pink hair had grown thin and had fallen out in some spots. Her face was most grotesque of all. Her lower jaw had deformed and the flesh of her cheeks had stretched with it. Her maw was lined with jagged teeth that were a mix of canine and human. Her eyes were glowing red with serpent-like slits for pupils. Her body had scars from the previous fight on it. He’d made a large bloody slash wound in her shoulder.

“Judy, get to cover!” Lycan roared.

Judy didn’t hesitate and he leapt at the former Reaper to start fighting her. Despite her deformed body, the Reaper moved fast and attacked even quicker. His blade slashed into her with ease, but the wounds would coagulate as fast as he’d make them so she couldn’t bleed out. She grabbed him and he severed four fingers off her right hand making her drop him, letting out an inhuman high-pitched shriek of pain. He then charged in and dug his blade into her guts, splashing blackish red blood on the ground and onto him.

“She’s going Sin. Gotta kill her fast.” he growled.

He continued evading and striking her as he could, but her body seemed to be hardening. She eventually knocked him to the bikes and he rolled to his feet, grabbed one with a single hand, and threw it knocking the Reaper on her back. A sound made him look over his shoulder to see Judy peeking.

“I said to run!” he barked, his canine teeth turning sharp.

“Behind you!” she cried, pointing.

He turned and the Reaper tackled him, gnashing at him with her teeth as she tried to stab him using the claws on her good hand. She was making bad wounds on him in this position. He shoved his blade into her mouth to hold it back and then snapped her wrist, prompting her to back away howling in pain. She then spotted Judy and leapt over Lycan to go for her. Judy fell backward screaming as she opened her maw to bite, but her jaws snapped shut inches from her. The reaper was then yanked back violently and slammed down on her back.

Judy’s eyes got wide as she gazed upon Lycan. His teeth were wild and swishing behind him was a large wolf’s tail. His left arm had grown to great size as well, tearing his jacket and shirt sleeve apart, and grew a pelt of fur the same color as his hair. His fingernails had turned to razor sharp claws as well. He was snarling like an animal as he grabbed hold of the Reaper’s face and started to squeeze as he slashed and hacked into her body. Her inhuman screams filled the air as the image of her father slaughtering her reflected in Judy’s eyes. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the attack. When he was done he let go of her and Judy slowly began to get up, but she felt right back down when he suddenly slammed his gargantuan fist into the Reaper’s skull, splatting it.

Slowly, his arm began returning to normal size. His teeth normalized and he stopped snarling. His wolf ears slowly disappeared as his human ears came back out. Lycan then grabbed his tail and slowly reached back with his saw sword. With a single motion, he severed his tail at the root making him exhale loudly as he grimaced. He then walked over to Judy and made her stand.

“When I tell you to run you run, damn it. Are you hurt?” he asked impatiently.

“I-I… I… you...”

“Answer me!” he roared, making her fall over starting to cry.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lycan saw himself in a puddle. A blood-covered mess with a wild look in his eyes. He then took a long look at Judy. She was shaking uncontrollably. She was so scared that she couldn’t even make a sound as tears streamed down her face. He dropped his saw sword, got on his knees, and sat her up to hug her.

“I… lost my cool in the fight. Some of my wild side came out. I’m sorry you had to see me like that.” he apologized, gently stroking the back of her head.

“I… I’m… s-s-sorry… I-I… didn’t run… M-Mom… told me to… t-to run… a-a-and then she… she… I didn’t… w-wanna be… b-be alone… a-again...” she managed to sniffle out.

Lycan held her just a bit tighter at that revelation. He was so used to not needing to care about others. So used to everyone else not caring about him in kind. So desensitized to emotions thanks to Reaper Anti-Sentimentalism. Thanks to that he didn’t even give it a second thought that Caroline, the only person of significance that was in Judy’s life since her birth, was gone. Now she has to live with a man she only knows as “the man who impregnated her mother”? He didn’t even bother to see if she was hungry or tired before taking her out on this job.

“I promise you. I’m not going anywhere.” he told her.

The sound of a footstep in the mud grabbed Lycan’s attention. Who should be standing across the way but the other missing Reaper. He could tell it was her, because she was missing an arm and covered in injuries. She had tan skin and short black hair. One of her eyes had completely closed up. Her jacket was in tatters, and clutched in her hand was the jacket plate of her fallen comrade.

“Sorry if this is a bad time… but… I could use a ride to town.” she told him.

“Yeah.” Lycan nodded.

When he stood, he took Judy’s hand and began to walk her back to his bike. It was now that he noticed she was walking a bit funny.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her.

“...my…” she whimpered, looking away blushing slightly.

“It’s okay. You can tell me.” he told her, kneeling down.

“...my… ail…” she mumbled.

“I need you to speak up.” he urged her, trying to be gentle as possible.

“My…” she sniffled, looking behind her.

“Oh… okay… bring it in a minute.” he told her, hugging her to him.

**_RIP_ **

“Better?” he asked, resuming holding her hand to walk to the bike.

“Mmhmm.” she nodded, her tail wagging happily behind her.

They got on and then the surviving Reaper got on with them. Carefully, Lycan drove back to the city to make the report. When they arrived at the building, Vamp was inside. She was covered in Sin blood.

“Whoa… Lycan… you look like shit. What happened? Is that Serpent? Where’s her partner, Wall?” Vamp gasped, seeing the three.

“Wall… had to be put down. Went Beast. We were lured in by an anti sentimentalist pretending to be injured… injected her with Stimulant K.” the Reaper known as Serpent replied, showing her the retrieved jacket plate.

“Oh my god…” Vamp gasped.

“We need to make our report.” Lycan told her, holding Judy’s hand as he walked to the desk.

Judy waited patiently while he and Serpent received urgent medical care. Serpent had to be hospitalized, but Lycan was otherwise clear to be on his feet. They made one more visit to the laundromat while accompanied by Vamp, to be sure Lycan was going to be okay, before getting a room at The Angel’s Corner Hotel. Once in their room Lycan handed Vamp a card before flopping onto one of the beds.

“Order whatever Judy feels like having for dinner. I… need sleep… Gonna try to rapid recover from these wounds…” Lycan ordered.

“Rapid recover?” Judy questioned.

“One of your daddy’s special traits. Each of us Reapers has a unique power called a ‘Nightmare Self’ that bestows certain traits that are specially unique to us. Lycan’s two most notable traits are ‘rapid recovery’ and ‘tracking instinct’. ‘Tracking instinct’ basically lets him track anything via scent, just like a wolf in the wild would. Very helpful for hunting Sins down. The other, ‘rapid recovery’, lets him quite literally sleep off any injury at the cost of consuming tons of calories and just a bit of his body’s fat content. He’s gonna be super hungry when he wakes up, but also all better.” Vamp explained to her.

“He can do that…?” Judy gasped, amazed by it.

“He can see in the dark too. Can you see in the dark?” Vamp giggled.

“Kinda… I can make out outlines and stuff without needing to squint…” she replied.

“Wow, you might have inherited his trait then! It might develop into the full thing when you’re a big girl. Hey Lycan, what was your night vision like starting out so we can determine if she’ll get it? Lycan?” Vamp gasped, trying to get Lycan’s attention.

“Zzzzzzzzzzz…”

“Out like a light… Didn’t even bother with the covers.” Vamp whistled.

“Is… is it really okay for me to be dressed like a Reaper…?” Judy asked Vamp.

“I know it’s not very cute clothing, but they’re hard to ruin. Lycan’s also the last guy to go to about fashion. I grew up on Reaper bodysuits, so I feel naked if I don’t have one on. Even when I take a day off and wear casual stuff, I’ve got one on underneath. You’re Lycan’s little girl, so I think that more than makes you qualified to wear the duds.” Vamp told her.

“O-Okay… if you say so.” Judy nodded.

“So, what sounds good for dinner? I’ve got Amazon Clan Pizza and Blacksmith Burgers on speed-dial…” Vamp asked, winking as she whipped out a cellphone.

Morning soon came with sunshine coming in the window, coming across Lycan’s face. He grimaced and growled a bit as he slowly opened one eye. Looking down, Judy was curled up beside him with the covers rolled up onto her, since she couldn’t get underneath them with him laying on top. Her jacket was hung up on the coat rack along with his. He couldn’t help staring at her sleeping face a bit. The way her wolf ears twitched in her sleep was simply adorable. It made him remember when he was little. Vamp would tease him about his ears twitching whenever he sees something that he likes. It’d been a while since he pulled out his wolf ears now that he thought about it. Almost two years now. His train of thought was interrupted by his stomach unleashing a mighty howl of hunger...


End file.
